Snapchat vs. Instagram: Who Is The Heavy Hitter?
Which social media app offers the most bang for your precious time dollar?
When Instagram launched its “Stories” function early in August, the internet was awash with headlines, Tweets and statuses boldly proclaiming that “Instagram just ended Snapchat”. At first, it seemed they had a point. The function of sharing pictures in an ephemeral manner—so they disappear after 24 hours—was the unique selling proposition of Snapchat. When Instagram add that as well, it was hard to see why anyone would use both.
And… It’s Gone
What is easy to see is why Instagram wanted to get in on the action, which some people have called “the internet of forgetting”. They tried to buy Snapchat in 2013, an attempt that failed. But clearly they still knew that if their users were so worried about posting the perfect picture while not giving away too much, it will curtail their use of the app. However, if they know the picture is going to disappear, they will be far less reluctant and discerning when it comes to what they post. That, of course, is the point. The more Instagram users post—whether in Stories or an actual post in the feed—the better it is for the app’s bottom line.
On the Up and Up
Now that it’s been out for several weeks, we’ve gotten a sense of just how Instagram Stories functions within the broader context of the app, and what it does and doesn’t offer compared to its now-rival Snapchat. We’ve also learned that Snapchat’s user growth does not appear to be suffering in the wake of the release. According to a report released later in August by eMarketer.com and reported by Mashable, “Snapchat reports that right now it has about 150 million daily active users worldwide. The firm predicts that the company will see a 27.2% increase in user growth in 2016 and another 13.6% increase in 2017”.
When trying to guess at the future of either app, it’s helpful to see precisely how they’re similar and different. Let’s take a look at three of the main ways the two services overlap and diverge:
The Purpose of “Stories”
Both apps have a function that allows you to publish a story that lasts 24 hours. But as The Atlantic put it: “While a 24-hour Snapchat story lasts much longer than a 10-second disappearing Snapchat message, a 24-hour Instagram story perishes faster than an Instagram post, which is never automatically deleted. In other words, Snapchat invented stories to promote permanence, but Instagram adopted them to encourage ephemerality.”
Followers
Snapchat is slightly more private than Instagram, as you can only choose to follow someone by searching their actual username or their phone number, making it harder to find someone you don’t know. Because of that, Snapchat users might feel they have slightly more control over who follows them. And Snapchat doesn’t suggest to its users the people they should follow, for fear of being “heavy handed”. On the flip side, Instagram just rolled out a function within its Stories section that does just that, suggesting users who they might be interested in “based on who you follow and the topics you care about, the tailored recommendations will make it easy to add someone new to your Home feed’s Stories section.” Again, this makes the service more about broadcasting to strangers, whereas Snapchat tends to be more about keeping in touch with those you know.
Appearance
One of the fun aspects of Snapchat is that it’s not about posting a perfect image; rather it’s more about being funny and wild using the services stickers, filters, and annotation tools. While Instagram offers of some of this, they don’t offer quite the same range. The higher resolution of Instagram Stories also makes it so that users are a little more inclined to make their Stories visually impressive, whereas on Snapchat that’s usually not such an aim.